


Fingertips on me, I can feel them still

by kaleidoscopeminds



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Barbers, Barber Michael, First Meetings, Fluff, Hairdressing au, M/M, why is that not a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26379391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaleidoscopeminds/pseuds/kaleidoscopeminds
Summary: The lady on the phone had offered him a new guy, and even though he was wary, he knew he couldn’t put off getting his hair cut any longer. That didn’t account for the new guy being the fucking prettiest man he’s ever set eyes upon, mask and all, and if Calum didn’t want to take his hat off before, he definitely doesn’t now.A barbershop AU
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Fingertips on me, I can feel them still

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ENTIRELY because I saw that tiny bit of Calum’s hair again today and I just couldn’t take it anymore so I have written him getting it fixed by hairdresser Michael :-) gotta thank the lovely heath because of the amount of time we have spent talking about this and the rest of the club for the hair discourse in general. Originally posted on tumblr.
> 
> But really Calum... get a haircut

So, Calum isn’t it? What have we here?” The barber quirks an eyebrow at Calum in the mirror, and Calum imagines he’s smiling at him by the crinkles around his eyes, not actually being able to see the bottom half of his face owing to it being covered in a protective mask.

“Um, you better prepare yourself,” Calum mumbles quietly. Not only was he having to deal with the shame of his hair looking like it does currently, his barber ( _Michael_ if he remembers the name correctly from when he booked) was also fucking gorgeous: all long soft-looking fringe, glasses, and dangly earrings. He’d booked in at his normal place, but the guy who usually cuts his hair was apparently on holiday. The lady on the phone had offered him a new guy, and even though he was wary, he knew he couldn’t put off getting his hair cut any longer. That didn’t account for the new guy being the fucking prettiest man he’s ever set eyes upon, mask and all, and if Calum didn’t want to take his hat off before, he definitely doesn’t now.

“Oh come on now,” says, still with those crinkles around his eyes, “I’ve seen a lot of bad hair in the past month, I am now incapable of being shocked.”

Calum sighs and pulls off his beanie, which it was already definitely too hot to be wearing in LA in September but at the moment, needs must. He looks back at his hot hairdresser in the mirror, challenging him to make a comment, but Michael just pauses for a second, then takes a calculating look at Calum’s head.

“Damn, that’s a lot of hair,” he says, not in an unkind way, and reaches out to brush his fingers through it. Calum tries his best not to shiver at the sensation of his hands pushing through his hair whilst simultaneously blushing furiously at Michael’s comment.

“Uh, yeah,” he says embarrassed. “I had a buzz cut before all this started if you can believe it.”

Michael gasps horrified, “A buzz cut? You mean you were keeping the world from this gift?” He tugs lightly on the ends of Calum’s hair to explain his meaning and Calum focuses extremely hard on not letting it affect him. He’s been in the chair for less than five minutes for fuck’s sake. 

“Gift?” He says disbelievingly. “Have you seen the garbage that’s on top of my head right now?”

Michael giggles delightedly, throwing his head back in a ridiculously charming way. “It leaves… a little to be desired,” he says, a laugh evident in his voice. “But that’s mainly because of these bleached ends, you’ve really managed to kill your curl pattern.”

Calum just shrugs a little sheepishly. “Yeah my hair’s been through quite a bit in the last couple of years.”

“What are you after then?” Michael says, running his fingers through Calum’s hair again and _fuck_ he really wishes he would stop doing that. “And don’t say buzz it all off because I categorically refuse.”

“Dunno really, I was gonna say just get rid of it but I suppose that’s a no go now? Whatever you want? I bow down to your superior knowledge and talented hands,” Calum says, winking, to let Michael know he’s joking without being able to smile at him from behind his own mask. He notices that Michael gets a blush over the top of his cheekbones as he winks. Interesting.

“Well,” Michael says with a small cough. “I might have an idea, let’s see what we can do.”

Calum smiles at Michael behind his mask, hoping that he emotion is conveyed despite the barrier. Michael beckons at him over to the sinks at the back of the barbershop and gestures towards the seat in the centre. Calum sits down and leans his head back into the sink, and Michael starts the water, holding it away from Calum’s head while it warms up.

“Let me know if the temperature is okay,” Michael says quietly before running the water over Calum’s head, careful to not drip into his eyes.

“So, you weren’t tempted to have a go at cutting it yourself?” He asks Calum lightly, as Calum hears him pump shampoo into his hand.

“Thought that might be a bad idea,” Calum says and then loses his train of thought as Michael starts lathering his hair. He bites back a contented moan as he feels his fingers scratch along his scalp, massaging patterns underneath his curls.

“I think that was probably for the best,” He vaguely hears Michael say from above him. “Let me know if the pressure’s okay”

“It’s good,” Calum manages to choke out, and he can hear Michael let out a little laugh. 

“Do you like a head massage then?” he hears Michael’s voice say innocently.

“Mmm,” is all Calum can respond with, his limbs going limp as his body relaxes into the seat. He feels like his body is incredibly confused as it honestly can’t work out if Michael is relaxing him or working him up with his hands.

“You know some people absolutely hate this,” Michael says conversationally as if he can’t sense Calum’s inner turmoil.

“I find that fucking hard to believe,” Calum murmurs, closing his eyes, and Michael laughs again.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Michael replies, pausing in his massaging of Calum’s scalp to rinse off the shampoo. 

“Let’s just say I stand by what I said earlier about your talented hands,” Calum responds, sighing at the loss of Michael’s hands but also relieved, he’s not sure what his body’s involuntary reaction might have been if it had gone on much longer. He hears Michael make a little embarrassed noise above his head and smiles to himself behind his mask, maybe he was having an effect on the pretty barber himself. Michael pulls some conditioner through his hair but fortunately (or unfortunately) for Calum, focuses the product mainly into the lengths, before rinsing his hair again and wrapping it deftly in a towel.

“Okay, follow me, let’s get this garbage sorted out,” Michael says teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows behind his glasses. 

Calum follows him back over to his original seat, and gets handed a disposable gown from Michael which he struggles with for a moment before Michael takes pity on him and helps him tie it at the back, keeping as much distance as possible but still managing to brush his fingers over Calum’s neck, and if the twinkling in Michael’s eyes is anything to go by, was done entirely on purpose. Calum sits down and fiddles with his gown as Michael drags over his trolley with his tools. He pulls out clippers and plugs them in next to Calum. 

“I thought you weren’t going to buzz it off?” Calum says, frowning at Michael as he turns on the clippers and they buzz loudly next to his ear.

“Oh I’m not don’t worry, but we’ve got to lose some of this on the sides and the back,” Michael says, waving the clippers in a vaguely threatening way. “Where’s the trust hm? I thought you were bowing to my talented hands?” 

Calum feels the blush creeping up his face. “I am!” He says quickly and then mimes zipping his lips. He hears Michael laugh again before he gets a focused look on his face and starts running the clippers up his scalp on the sides and back, pulling back when he reaches the top of Calum’s head. Calum wishes he could see more of Michael’s face when he’s focusing like this, the slight pucker in his brow as he frowns in concentration and the way his eyes take on a serious look as he moves around Calum’s head with a practised air. He wants to know if Michael nibbles on his lip when he’s thinking or smiles to himself when he does a good job.

He stops looking at Michael for a second to look at his own head, which has taken on the alarming look of a mushroom, with short sides and a ridiculous amount of hair on top, and raises his eyebrows expressively at Michael.

“Hey,” I see your judgemental eyes,” He says lightly, sweeping the hair off Calum’s shoulders and giving him a small tap. “Trust the process.”

Calum snorts and shakes his head which earns him another small tap on the shoulder. 

Michael pulls out a comb and sections the top of Calum’s head neatly with clips, before grabbing his scissors and beginning to pull small pieces of Calum’s hair taut and holding between his fingers before carefully trimming off all the yellowing blonde ends, snipping into the line of hair. He continues moving expertly through Calum’s hair and Calum cannot stop looking at the way Michael’s fingers move, flashing in and out of his curls, moving skilfully and with purpose. He wants to talk to Michael, to learn more about him and to make him laugh again but he’s far too distracted by what he’s doing with his hands to manage any coherent conversation. 

“So Calum,” Michael says, clearly not having the same concern as Calum in this situation. “What made you wait so long to come and get this sorted if you disliked it so much?”

“Dunno,” Calum replies distantly, still looking at Michael’s hands. “Guess it didn’t seem important enough to leave the house for.”

Michael gasps in mock horror. “Not important? How dare you.” He laughs as he reaches the front of Calum’s head, combing through a few times before beginning to trim again. “What changed your mind, hot date coming up?”

Calum snorts. “Not likely.” 

“Now, I find _that_ fucking hard to believe,” Michael says quietly, catching Calum’s eye in the mirror for a second before looking away. 

Calum grins and is incredibly grateful for the mask that conceals what his face is doing, just makes a non-committal noise and shrugs his shoulders. 

Michael trims off the last piece of yellowing ends and nods to himself pleased before skimming his scissors up the side of his head, Calum assuming that he’s blending the edges into the fade on the sides.

Once Michael’s gone round his whole head with the scissors, he grabs some thinning shears and starts moving through his hair again. “I feel like it’s a crime to get rid of more of this beautiful hair but I’ve got to lose some of the bulk here otherwise it’s going to be impossible to deal with.”

Calum laughs. “Yeah I can attest to that.”

Michael finally goes over to the the other side of the barbers and picks up some product which he scoops out of a container and rubs between his palms before running it through the short curls on the top of Calum’s head and the slightly longer ones he’s left in the front, twisting them slightly around his fingers. Calum thinks that his attraction to the man has reached an all time high, and he promises himself he will at least ask for Michael’s number before he leaves the barbershop. 

“Okay what do you think,” Michael says, and Calum thinks he can pick up a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

“It seems I was completely right to trust your talented hands, it looks great,” Calum says honestly, twisting his head to look at the sides and then checking the back in the mirror that Michael holds up for him to see. The awful blonde remains have all been removed, leaving short and neat sides and as much of the curl that could be kept on top, waving back into its familiar pattern. 

“Now don’t be shaving it off anytime soon okay,” Michael says seriously, sweeping hair off Calum’s shoulders with a brush and lightly untying the gown at the back.

“How will you know if I do,” Calum says cheekily, pulling his arms free and shaking his T-shirt out.

“I have your number on the file, maybe I’ll have to call you and check,” Michael says, eyes glinting and a flush appearing on his cheeks again, as he twists his fingers through Calum’s hair one last time and then almost unconsciously brushes Calum’s neck as he moves his hands away.

“Maybe I could just give it to you now and save you the trouble,” Calum replies, blushing himself and adjusting his collar.

“Well that could work too I suppose,” Michael says shyly, and digs his phone out of his pocket.

Calum laughs and reels off his number for Michael to enter, before getting to his feet and sliding his jacket on.

“Thanks for the haircut Michael,” Calum says. “Maybe I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

“Maybe you will,” Michael responds with raised eyebrows. “Now, however cute you are, you need to leave, my next client is here.”

Calum laughs and gives a small wave before leaving the shop. He looks back inside to see Michael texting something on his phone, before he looks up to meet Calum’s eyes and gives him a wink. Calum feels his phone buzz in his pocket and fishes it out, he opens up his phone to see a message from an unknown number, he opens it and laughs out loud before shaking his head at Michael and walking towards his car.

_Now don’t be going and flirting with any other boys with your sexy new haircut_

**Author's Note:**

> come and talk to me on [tumblr](kaleidoscopeminds.tumblr.com)


End file.
